Summary In this article, Amy Ricketts discusses the use of the traditional science fair project as a means to introduce the inquiry process to English Language Learners (ELL) while at the same time improving the students' English language skills. Ms. Ricketts worked with a self-contained class of ELL students, though she says this method would work in a traditional classroom as well, though it would obviously require some more modifications. Instead of the traditional scenario where a single student decides on an inquiry project to investigate for a science fair, Ms. Ricketts had the ELL students work together as a group on a single project. She began by choosing a topic, pendulums, and giving the students basic instructions on the topic. The inquiry was conducted in three phases, going from more teacher structured in the beginning to more student centered in the final phase. Initially, Ms. Rickets introduced the investigation topic, research question, procedure, data tables and graphs to be used, having the students only brainstorm and choose a variable to be tested. By phase three, the students were choosing not only the variable but the procedures, data tables and graphs. Ms. Ricketts allowed the students to communicate with one another however they were most comfortable, whether in their native language or English, supplying technical science vocabulary after they mastered the concepts or only when they didn't know terminology in their native language. She didn't require the students to write the procedure and provided skeletal sentences for the students to copy when writing about the analysis of their data. When it came time for the science fair, Ms. Ricketts allowed the students to practice their speaking roles with one another, starting out in pairs, then presenting to her, then to their self contained class all before the fair, focusing only on content and not presentation style or delivery.
Reflection
I was interested to see that in this class, Ms. Ricketts allowed the students to converse orally in their native languages and did not push the writing aspects of the science project, allowing instead for the students to take photographs of critical steps in the procedures and then give short captions to the pictures. Many current texts I have read say to allow conversation and writing only in English, stressing the repetition of these skills is what will improve language acquisition and vocabulary. I do like the idea of allowing ELL students, or any other students with special needs, to work on a science fair project as a group, allowing them to bounce ideas off of one another and play to their strengths instead of potentially overwhelming them with all the requirements of an individual project. It was good, too, to see that Ms. Ricketts was mindful of the students cultural backgrounds. The U.S. school culture tends to encourage questioning and competition, but many other cultures teach children not to question adults or teachers out of a sign of respect and encourage cooperation among classmates, pooling resources and knowledge to tackle problems both in school and in the real world. I think this process she has designed could be used for standard classroom inquiry projects as well, not just the larger science fair projects, for maximum learning for all students in the classroom. The alternate means of communication, presentation and documentation could be helpful to many students with differing needs, not just ELL students.
Ricketts, A. (2011). Using inquiry to break the language barrier: English language learners and science fairs. The Science Teacher, 78(8), 56-58.
Summary
In this article, Amy Ricketts discusses the use of the traditional science fair project as a means to introduce the inquiry process to English Language Learners (ELL) while at the same time improving the students' English language skills. Ms. Ricketts worked with a self-contained class of ELL students, though she says this method would work in a traditional classroom as well, though it would obviously require some more modifications. Instead of the traditional scenario where a single student decides on an inquiry project to investigate for a science fair, Ms. Ricketts had the ELL students work together as a group on a single project. She began by choosing a topic, pendulums, and giving the students basic instructions on the topic. The inquiry was conducted in three phases, going from more teacher structured in the beginning to more student centered in the final phase. Initially, Ms. Rickets introduced the investigation topic, research question, procedure, data tables and graphs to be used, having the students only brainstorm and choose a variable to be tested. By phase three, the students were choosing not only the variable but the procedures, data tables and graphs. Ms. Ricketts allowed the students to communicate with one another however they were most comfortable, whether in their native language or English, supplying technical science vocabulary after they mastered the concepts or only when they didn't know terminology in their native language. She didn't require the students to write the procedure and provided skeletal sentences for the students to copy when writing about the analysis of their data. When it came time for the science fair, Ms. Ricketts allowed the students to practice their speaking roles with one another, starting out in pairs, then presenting to her, then to their self contained class all before the fair, focusing only on content and not presentation style or delivery.
Reflection
I was interested to see that in this class, Ms. Ricketts allowed the students to converse orally in their native languages and did not push the writing aspects of the science project, allowing instead for the students to take photographs of critical steps in the procedures and then give short captions to the pictures. Many current texts I have read say to allow conversation and writing only in English, stressing the repetition of these skills is what will improve language acquisition and vocabulary. I do like the idea of allowing ELL students, or any other students with special needs, to work on a science fair project as a group, allowing them to bounce ideas off of one another and play to their strengths instead of potentially overwhelming them with all the requirements of an individual project. It was good, too, to see that Ms. Ricketts was mindful of the students cultural backgrounds. The U.S. school culture tends to encourage questioning and competition, but many other cultures teach children not to question adults or teachers out of a sign of respect and encourage cooperation among classmates, pooling resources and knowledge to tackle problems both in school and in the real world. I think this process she has designed could be used for standard classroom inquiry projects as well, not just the larger science fair projects, for maximum learning for all students in the classroom. The alternate means of communication, presentation and documentation could be helpful to many students with differing needs, not just ELL students.